Failed qimport of patches from files should cleanup by recording successfully imported patches in series file. $ echo "[extensions]" >> $HGRCPATH $ echo "mq=" >> $HGRCPATH $ hg init repo $ cd repo $ echo a > a $ hg ci -Am'add a' adding a $ cat >b.patch< diff --git a/a b/a > --- a/a > +++ b/a > @@ -1,1 +1,2 @@ > a > +b > EOF $ echo empty series $ hg qseries $ echo qimport valid patch followed by invalid patch $ hg qimport b.patch fakepatch adding b.patch to series file abort: unable to read file fakepatch [255] $ echo valid patches before fail added to series $ hg qseries b.patch